A day in Valletta

Ohiolair, a flight attendant from California, describes his first moments in Malta:

..awoke early.... 5 a.m. ... Wide awake. SO o grabbed the lap top and headed up on deck to write (I'm working on more than this travelogue) and watch the sun come up. I lasted about 45 minutes, then headed back to bed! HA! I did see the Dawn break, the sky lighten, but didn't wait for the sun. Bed and snuggling lasted all of 10 minutes, and then I headed back out and to coffee. I was on deck to watch us sail into Valetta. What a beautiful city... massive walls that stretch down to the sea, some of the stone cliffs have tenements dug right into the sandstone faces. It was beautiful.

What a beautiful city, a main pedestrian way was our destination. Bob wanted to show me a shop he had bought a few things at on their last stop, and he wanted to go into the St. Johns Cathedral. We stopped in a Mac Donald's ( I know, I know) to get bottles of water and headed to the shop first, where Bob bought an amazing Globe Desk set made of semi precious minerals form around the world. At least he paid for it for we were off to the Cathedral which was only a block or so away.


What an AMAZING building, the floors are all marble, intricate panels of prayers and such all made of various colors of marble. It was incredible and ornate. Every surface of the church is covered with carving or painting. Beautiful. We wandered around there for 45 minutes or so, seeing the Caravaggio they have there (I even snapped a photo (w/o flash) not realizing I wasn't suppose to). We visited the gift shop on our way out and then wandered around snapping pictures and Bob giving me a history lesson about Malta and Valetta.

The Palace was amazing on the inside courtyard (what we could see of it) and the narrow streets leading down to the sea picturesque and inviting. Unfortunately, we had to go back to the shop to pick up Bob's treasure and head back to the ship. Which we accomplished, but not without me buying more than I should myself along the way. I figures it was worth it. How many times do I get to Malta...